


Tepid Stardust

by juneclouds



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - High School, Childhood Sexual Abuse, First Love, Hobbies, Implied Bullying, Intersex Keith (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, Keith (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Male Bonding, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:02:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29992899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juneclouds/pseuds/juneclouds
Summary: By his senior year Keith Kogane was confident in himself. He wore what he want, did what he want, and some people gave him trouble for it. But he couldn’t be bothered. That attitude both irritated and attracted Lance McClain. After finding out they had a lot in common and quite the chemistry, the two had so much to gain from their relationship.They had no idea what they’d end up losing, and Lance couldn’t even begin to piece together the story that unfolded in the fallout.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 3





	Tepid Stardust

**Author's Note:**

> TW: The major character death warning is accurate. Prepare yourself.
> 
> Keith gets deadnamed (calling someone the old name they were given when they were assigned a gender they don’t identify as, without their permission)in this story, but the deadname is not revealed to the reader.
> 
> Keith is tagged as intersex but it’s not an anatomical variant that happens in real life, with further explanation of that later.

Keith breathed the cool morning air.

The skies were gray, which was fitting for his first day of middle school. Not because he felt gloomy, but because he loved cloudy days, and they went well with the flutter of anticipation in his stomach. He’d always loved school.

Keith’s boot heels clacked against the sidewalk as he made his way to the bus stop. He looked up as he walked. The leaves of the trees rustled in the wind and the silver clouds peeked through the gaps. He smiled.

Arriving at the bus stop he absentmindedly fiddled with a loose thread on the shoulder sash of his book bag. A boy his age, pale-skinned with brown hair, approached and waited beside him. Keith became a little nervous, but he wanted to make new friends this year, so he smiled shyly at him.

”What are you lookin’ at?” said the boy. He didn’t sound angry, just a bit annoyed but curious.

“Nothing, sorry” muttered Keith, looking away. There was an awkward silence until the other boy spoke again.

”I’m James. What about you?” he asked.

”Keith” answered Keith, his smile returning. “I’m eleven. Are you starting sixth grade, too?”

”Yeah” grumbled James. He didn’t seem too happy about it.

The bus ride was quiet. Keith wondered if the other kids were nervous or excited, too. He luckily snagged a window seat and got to watch the world pass by outside.

Finding first period was difficult. The new school was rather big, and Keith was almost late. He sat in a middle row desk and marveled at the curve of it, how the surface was flat and connected to back by a metal bar. It was so different to the desks with the cubbies inside that he’d been used to for years in his elementary school. The teacher started roll call.

The very first name was one that Keith was all too familiar with but no longer wanted to hear.

He looked down and twiddled his thumbs. Should he answer? He decided not to, even if it meant being marked as absent. Shiro said that the name problem had been taken care of. Apparently not.

Despite the rocky start, Keith was enjoying his first day. Lunch came quicker than expected. He found a nice secluded spot at a table and sat. He _did_ want to make new friends, but inserting himself into a group of strangers at lunchtime was a bit too intimidating. Plus, he honestly loved the peace of being alone, even if he didn’t want it all the time.

Science class was Keith’s favorite part of the day. His favorite subject always delighted him. He couldn’t wait until they eventually started lessons on geography, geology, the Earth and the planets and the galaxies. He always got high marks on those lessons.

Keith was on the bus ride home before he knew it. The day had just flown by. Well, they did say that such a thing would happen when you have fun, and Keith did have a good day.

As he watched the power lines come and go he saw yet another boy his age walking home. He didn’t know what it was about this boy with the chocolate hair and bronze skin that made him stare. His eyes just decided to follow him until he was out of the field of vision through the window.

When Keith made to insert his key into the front door it slammed open by himself, making him stumble away startled.

A cloud of dark smoke billowed out of the doorway and Shiro emerged from it, coughing.

”Step back, Keith! You don’t want to breathe this stuff!”

Keith scrunched his nose and fanned the air. “What the heck is going on in there?!”

”Well, Adam gave me his mother’s casserole recipe- your favorite meal of hers, right?- and I thought I’d give it a go because today’s kind of special and all, but...”

”Aww, Shiro. That really cool” smiled Keith. “But we’ve been through enough fire for a lifetime. I think you should leave the cooking to Adam’s family before you start another one.”

“No kidding. I’m gonna go in and open some windows, but after that let’s hang out here for a while while the house airs out.”

Keith hoped Shiro didn’t mind his dark joke. The house fire that took their parents happened when Keith was too young to remember. Sometimes he can still hear his dad’s voice, feel his stubble scratch his forehead, smell his cologne. But he has no memory of his mother at all.

The brothers sat on the step of their front porch and talked about Keith’s first day. Shiro was furious that the school seemed to have not taken Shiro seriously about Keith’s name, despite Shiro being Keith’s legal guardian now. But Keith didn’t want to dwell on it and Shiro was happy to hear that the rest of the day was great.

They had pizza delivered to their step, which was a treat in itself as they usually didn’t order out. Keith hummed in satisfaction as he ate, and Shiro mused to himself about Keith’s future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I thought this was a Klance highschool AU?” you ask. It will be soon.


End file.
